Escapee arrested following report of drive-by shooting

Ardmore police nabbed an escapee from a West Coast prison facility Thursday night when he and a local woman, who claimed she was the victim of a drive-by shooting, arrived at the emergency room.

Detective Matt Dunn, Ardmore Police Department Criminal Investigation Division, said Jahfel Stubblefield is wanted on a warrant charging him with escape by the Washington Department of Corrections. Dunn said Stubblefield reportedly had fled a Seattle-based community work release center. He was booked into the Carter County Detention Center on the outstanding warrant and a pending fugitive-from-justice charge.

The 23-year-old escapee was identified about 9:30 p.m. when officers were called to the emergency room.

“It was reported a female had come into the ER with a single gunshot wound to the upper shoulder,” Dunn said. “She told officers she and her significant other (Stubblefield) were walking in the 400 block of Park Street when a car drove by and shots were fired.”

The victim claimed multiple shots had been fired from the unidentified car by an unknown shooter. But she maintained although Stubblefield was walking beside her, he escaped being injured by the hail of bullets.

However, Dunn said investigators responding to the alleged scene of the attack found no evidence of a drive-by shooting.

Meanwhile the story from the emergency room was becoming more and more convoluted with Stubblefield drawing the focus of the investigation on himself.

“He tried to give us a false name,” Dunn said. “When the victim found out he was being arrested, she became very uncooperative and left the hospital without further treatment.”

What really happened? Dunn said investigators are still attempting to determine who shot the woman and where.

“It (case) is still open,” he said Saturday.

Stubblefield could make an initial court appearance on the outstanding arrest warrant and the pending charge as early as Monday.